Embassy 1,2,3 Theatre

707 7th Avenue,
New York, NY 10036

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Showing 26 - 50 of 1,093 comments

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on March 22, 2022 at 7:43 am

Hawaii played here for 41 weeks in 1966-67, when it was known as the DeMille.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on March 21, 2022 at 4:25 pm

Hello-

a few years back Twilight Time released a blu-ray disc of Hawaii but botched it by using the general release cut rather than the original roadshow which did exist. now another blu-ray disc of Hawaii is coming out but like Twilight Time did the new company is botching it by again using the general release cut. the original roadshow cut exits why not use it?

vindanpar
vindanpar on February 9, 2022 at 12:19 pm

I wasn’t quite sure where to put this link but there is some nice footage of this theater.

First 8 minutes of this is midtown in the summer of 48. Many nice shots of Times Square and it’s spectacular signage at dusk. The rest is New Brunswick NJ which is also fun to see. The people are dressed like they are in some old movie.

https://youtu.be/FVrgNYu4fcw

ridethectrain
ridethectrain on July 4, 2021 at 8:24 am

Plase update, when it became a triplex on November 24, 1976, Embassy 2 seating was 540 and Embassy 3 and 4 was 300. Theatre closed December 31, 1998

grindhouse
grindhouse on July 2, 2021 at 8:15 pm

The 72nd Street Playhouse day and dated with a few Broadway houses including The Capitol with “The Planet Of The Apes”.

72nd St Playhouse

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on July 2, 2021 at 7:11 pm

Probably the only Upper East Side outlet available for MGM by then.

Astyanax
Astyanax on July 2, 2021 at 6:48 pm

How did the 72nd St. Playhouse, an outlier venue between the Bloomingdale’s belt and the East 86th St. strip get to day & date the DeMille? No one expected Shaft to be a smash but did this AIT house see a surge in business during this run?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on July 2, 2021 at 3:54 pm

bigjoe, try cutting and pasting link. It is still active.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on July 2, 2021 at 3:16 pm

Hello-

to Al A. thanks for posting the video link. I’ve tried typing it 3 times but zippo. to which I accept there is visual proof that Mark 1-2-3 was actually ob the marquee. though it must have been for a relatively short period since as I have said I’ve been a regular patron at the TKTS booth since the day it opened and don’t remember it.

grindhouse
grindhouse on July 2, 2021 at 11:03 am

Terrific article MSC77 thanks. I never like how some films are placed firmly in the Blaxploitation genre. Blaxploitation is automatically thought of as low budget, B or less movies, making them seem less than. I never considered “Shaft” in that category and I’ll add “Blacula” to that list. Yes, they are low budget but they are really really good films and wildly entertaining. “Shaft” has great work from Gordan Parks, Richard Roundtree and Issac Hayes earning his Oscar. While “Blacula” had laughs, camp, the amazing William Marshall and at times is genuinely creepy. Of course both were successful enough to earn sequels.

MSC77
MSC77 on July 2, 2021 at 7:53 am

Fifty years ago today, “Shaft” opened at the DeMille (and day-and-date at 72nd Street Playhouse). A benefit premiere was reportedly held three days prior.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, New York (and Los Angeles) were not the first markets in which “Shaft” played. For fans of the film and/or those interested in historical playdate details, here’s the link to my latest film history column which includes the film’s first-run bookings chronology and historian Q&A.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on October 18, 2020 at 9:51 am

Al, let me also say thanks, without any hint of sarcasm at all, for posting that vid! I enjoyed seeing the glimpses of Times Square marquees and even the sledding in Central Park! Judging by the movie titles displayed and the sandwich board outside the one shop proclaiming “363 days to Christmas” the date would be December 28, 1976. No need to thank me, hdtv267, for my incredible detective work. And I guess “In Search of Noah’s Ark” was a hot ticket to occupy two screens at the Mark that holiday season!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on October 18, 2020 at 6:21 am

You can see the elusive Mark Triplex marquee about 21 seconds into this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Whm9gNtzI

Mike (saps)
Mike (saps) on October 17, 2020 at 8:13 pm

That question has been asked — and never answered — many times on this thread…

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on October 17, 2020 at 3:48 pm

Hello-

on page 1 of the photo second is an ad for this theater as the Mark 1,2,3 showing war films. now I have used the TKTS
booth since the day it opened. to which if you stood on the line on the right side of the booth you looked directly at the marquee for this theater. I never remember Mark 1,2,3 being on the marquee. anyone ever come across a photo?

rivest266
rivest266 on October 8, 2020 at 1:17 am

Opened as Mark 1 2 3 on November 24th, 1976. Grand opening ad posted.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on September 13, 2020 at 3:37 pm

Hello-

to Cine Tech. last nite I watched the Criterion blu-ray and enjoyed it yet again. in terms of the richness of the colors and the crispness, clarity and sharpness of the picture image and audio tracks it was everything I’d want in a blu-ray disc of a film from 1953. plus according to the extras the restoration was dome in conjunction with Paramount. so without getting too technical could you please again explain your main problem with the Criterion blu-ray. thanks.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on September 11, 2020 at 4:01 pm

As in the music industry 45 records, the “B side” was a expected lesser hit that accompanied the “A side” meant to be the main hit. A “B” movie was designed to be the low-budget second film in a double feature. Once finished, the studio might release it as an “A” film if they felt it had enough potential. After first-run double features became rare, a “B” film usually referred to low budget exploitation films that played well at drive-ins and inner city grind houses.

markp
markp on September 11, 2020 at 2:10 pm

What Big Joe was referring to about A film or B film was its run in the theatres. I was a projectionist for years at first run twins in NJ. The one twin would always get what was considered the A film, Star Wars, Close Encounters etc. The other twin 5 miles away got what was considered B films, Smokey and the Bandit, Saturday Night Fever etc. It was what the film companies determined which films would be a bigger hit. And then the theatres decided what they wanted to play where.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on September 11, 2020 at 2:10 pm

Hello- to CineTech. its my understanding that during the Golden Age of Hollywood(the beginning of sound to the early 60s) the studios operated very much on the A movie and B movie production levels. so I don’t understand how you can say the A and B production levels didn’t exist?

also are you saying the current Paramount Hone Video
dvd of TWOTW is better than the restored Criterion
Blu-ray?

vindanpar
vindanpar on September 11, 2020 at 1:27 pm

Cinetech you’ve given us much great information concerning DVDs and transfers which is greatly appreciated but we often discuss films that have opened first run at specific theaters and their afterlife and we often discuss films that have tangential relationships to those films which opened at other theaters entirely as recently was happening on the Rivoli thread. A kind of collective cinematreasures stream of consciousness.

Your contribution here is of great help to collectors. So called experts can too often be wrong.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on September 10, 2020 at 4:36 pm

Hello-

I recently purchased the Criterion Collection blu-ray disc of The War of the Worlds from 1953. when it opened here in 1953 was it considered an A film or a B film?

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on September 7, 2020 at 1:11 pm

Hello-

to Al A.– there are a number of classic films where its known the current blu-ray disc isn’t the same cut of the film as when the film opened in whichever of Manhattan’s many 1st run theaters. to which I never knew the cut on the vhs, dvd and 50th Ani. blu-ray wasn’t the same cut as opened at this theater. did you know?

also the differences while minute in terms of the film’s
running time will still be noticeable to anyone who has
watched the 50th Ani. blu-ray countless times. for instance
when Mr. Arbogast falls down the stairs after being stabbed
by “Mother” and lands at the foot of the stairs in the
version everyone knows “Mother” stabs him 2 more times. in
the June 1960 original cut she stabs him 4 more times.

also I don’t think an original cut of The Current War which finally opened last Oct. 2019 at the Angelika ever existed. it was originally supposed to open Nov. of 2017. they started showing in theaters in Sept. but then the Harvey scandal broke and all of the Weinstein Company films were put in legal limbo. it took almost 2 years for the director and a new distributor to buy the film from TWC. my point being simple. when they started showing the trailer in Sept. of 2017 its my understanding a theatrical cut had not actually been agreed upon by TWC and the director before the scandal hit. so when he got the film back “the directors cut” as the film was tagged is his personal preferred cut.

vindanpar
vindanpar on September 7, 2020 at 10:37 am

TCM is showing Woodstock? Are they also showing Joe and Zabriskie Point?

markp
markp on September 7, 2020 at 3:35 am

AlAlverez, you are so right. Even TCM is going that way. Tonight they are showing Woodstock the Directors Cut. To be honest, it isnt bad, but I like the original better.